Chapter 32: Different tastes
Honking cars. Streetlight, polluting the sky even in the darkest depths of nights. People's chatter, livid and energetic no matter the time of day.
Izaya remembered the feeling that an empty city evoked in his mind.
The freedom of a skyscraper's ceiling serving an endless view from its top floor balcony.
He wasn't quite sure why, but the idea caused a kind of thrill and peace within his mind that Izaya couldn't quite deny.
None of those objects was to be found in his current setting and yet that feeling seemed to remain.
Head resting on the purring body of a soft Anila he looked into the sky.
Hell's night proceeded at its awfully fast pace. It seemed as though he had only just watched the sun set and yet it was already rising again.
Blood grazed the horizon with kind dread and Izaya's body rolled to his side. Another Anila had snuggled up to his body and booping his palm with its head it demanded for its own share of attention.
It was a morning that couldn't have been more unsettling, considering they were going to meet the demon lord, considering he was traversing actual hell, and yet Izaya couldn't help but feel at ease.
Eyes closed and chest awfully relaxed, the demon he had been traveling with had chosen to match his pace. Chest lowering and rising in even breaths, Izaya wasn't quite sure whether Shizuo was actually asleep or just dozing off a little.
He would have minded neither.
Shizuo was the one who lived in hell for the past millennia. Sure he only remembered a small fraction of that time, but instinct and reflexes were nothing one's body was about to forget from one day to the next.
A hunch here, a gut feeling there- in short, if Shizuo felt it was safe to sleep in this area, then it probably was.
Not daring to touch the demon in his sleep, the Anilas had chosen to avoid Shizuo and gather around Izaya instead. It was a most welcome side effect of being a powerful demon inside hell, and Izaya appreciated the touch of soft fur and the warmth seeping off their bodies.
It was when one of the six legged creatures finally met his crotch upon walking over his body, that Izaya rose from the ground with a soft grunt, and eyes looking as though they had never slept at all, watched him in mild amusement.
"Good morning," Shizuo hummed and the Anilas quickly moved behind Izaya's back as if the demon's awakening were something to be scared of.
Izaya only snorted.
"I thought you were sleeping."
Raising from the ground Shizuo moved his shoulders, his arms and craned his neck towards the sky. "A little, dozed off for a few moments."
Moments, huh?
Looking towards the sky line and the slowly revealing sun Izaya couldn't help but wonder what a moment of time was per a demon's definition.
Freezing halfway in the midst of stretching his arm, Shizuo's eyes trailed along their immediate landscape.
Not much had changed. The plants having grown as large as trees were still standing proudly and housing the countless Anilas climbing their stalks. The streams of water even seemed to have picked up in speed as their size as well as their rigid movements grew more uncoordinated by the second.
"I will be right back." Shizuo suddenly announced and Izaya blinked.
"Huh?" but the demon was already gone.
One jump towards the giant flowers and the glimpse of wings was all that Izaya had seen as he rose from the ground.
He should probably feel fear upon being left alone in the midst of hell. And yet he somehow didn't.
Was it because this demon had been so adamant about his protection?
A smile drew upon Izaya's face and he sighed.
Why even?
He didn't get it. Shizuo was a demon. Supposed to probably eat human souls or something, or kill them. At least not protect them.
But something about him was just too… kind. The way he acted, the way he spoke, the way he moved. Everything seemed so awfully humane for a simple demon.
And then there was that nostalgia.
Eyes narrowing just slightly, Izaya tried to recall the pictures that flooded his mind earlier. But to no avail. The blur was still there, efficiently keeping him from recalling anything of his past life that truly seemed to matter.
It was the goddess' doing, without doubt. She probably wanted him to suffer by not remembering anyone- …. or did she?
Tapping his lips, Izaya frowned for a second.
Something about that conclusion didn't seem right.
Wouldn't it be much more daunting to remember everyone he possibly loved and tell him he was never going to see them again?
In comparison to mild memory loss it seemed a lot more torturous to exploit whatever relationships he had. After all, human interaction was what caused a variety of emotions. Shame. Guilt. Regret. Longing. The action of missing someone or sadness upon not being able to meet them.
Death was one if not the saddest example of that kind.
The goddess could have manipulated his thoughts and showed him scenes of true terror. She was obviously able to, considering the way she changed her body.
… no.
Somehow he had a feeling it wasn't the goddess deed.
But if it hadn't been the goddess who cleared his memory… then who had?
"Breakfast."
Startled lightly upon the quick announcement, Izaya blinked as he faced a very much delighted demon.
The heart of an unknown creature seemed to rest in his palm, but oddly missed an equal amount of blood spurting from all openings. It was only upon closer inspection and Shizuo offering the gross subject that a sweet smell wafted into Izaya's direction.
A fruit.
This was no organ. It was a really grotesque looking fruit.
Movement ripples through the most likely edible object and Izaya eyes a set of oddly wiggly strings dangling from its sides. The resemblance of a true human heart was highly uncanny and his appetite pretty much evaporated on sight.
"Looks disgusting," he commented and even Shizuo seemed to be aware of what he was offering.
"So did the mushroom and it wasn't too bad, right?" he shrugged and Izaya tried to ignore the memory of that furry atrocity that the shroom had been.
Texture definitely seemed to be something that demon's didn't give a shit about.
But taste?
Sighing softly he reached out for the awfully smooth surface of the fruit.
It was warm to the touch. Which didn't exactly enhance his wish to taste it, but Izaya closed his eyes and quickly told himself that it had probably just grown in a place filled with the warmth of early sunlight.
Besides he hadn't really eaten anything ever since consuming that shroom.
And different to before he was actually starting to feel hungry this time around. Was it hell's properties that had caused his body to ignore its longing for food? Because it was dying anyway?
Theories over theories started arising in his mind, and the demon gestured for him to hurry up.
Right.
The fruit.
Taking a deep breath Izaya closed his eyes and-
"Disgusting-" Izaya retched for a second of unintended resistance as he kept the fruit at maximum distance.
It was weird- the texture- that shit moved upon touching his tongue. What the hell-
The taste resembled curdled milk and the way it throttled down his throat really took everything in him to resist returning it right here right now. "You knew this tasted like shit, right?" Izaya asked, and eyes of judgment and part annoyance looked at Shizuo who was showing nothing but a heartfelt laugh as Izaya swallowed the single bite of sour, salty tasting substance.
"It's good for you though. I swear."
So he did know, that sly little bastard.
"I will never taste anything you are offering again," Izaya announced and a shudder traveled down his back at the sheer memory of its mouth feeling.
"Got it, got it, but you feel good, don't you?"
And Izaya paused for a second.
Good?
Doing his own kind of self assessment, Izaya analyzed his current condition. Weariness of a natural kind had laid on his shoulders and legs after the distance they traveled. Of course it did. It was no surprise. And yet, right now-
Blinking shortly he realized that Shizuo was right.
Certainly.
He did feel better.
As if he had slept an entire night without a single wake and taken a fresh bath of silken flowers. And somehow the longer he seemed to try to find a sensation of discomfort he only ended up finding even better sensations. Even his smell seemed to have improved and his mind felt awfully at ease and relaxed beyond comfort.
Doubt grazed his eyes as he looked at what appeared to be a demon that was very proud of his own actions.
"What was that? Some kind of energy boosting fruit?" he asked, and his earlier words of blame were slowly but surely losing their intensity.
"Something like that. It's rare, and demons usually keep one around for worst case scenarios," Shizuo explained and pointed towards the area of plants he had previously passed. "They grow in under an hour and turn bad in half the time. I smelled one up ahead and thought it wouldn't hurt to give you a bite."
Izaya blinked surprised and followed Shizuo's line of sight.
Growing in under an hour was one thing. Mushrooms had a pretty short growth rate of only one day, so considering how fast a day was passing here, that one hour was somewhat understandable. But going bad just as quick?
He understood why Shizuo had called it rare.
"Worst case scenarios? What does it do? Heal deadly wounds?" he asked, or rather joked, because no matter how many benefits this fruit carried he doubted it could do anything but support a body.
It seemed his expectations were wrong, however, as Shizuo nodded.
"Among other things."
Among-
A bit perplexed, Izaya looked at the demon.
"You are kidding," he said, and glanced towards the grotesque looking fruit in his hands. But Shizuo shook his head.
Healing wounds.
Actual injuries?
Wow.
Bringing the gross edible plant a bit closer Izaya sighed.
"Alright, I guess I blamed you with little reason to. But I still don't want to ever taste that shit again."
"Got it," Shizuo snorted, but declined taking the fruit back as it was offered. "But make sure you keep it. Just in case."
… just in case, huh?
Sighing softly, Izaya retracted his palm and the disgusting piece of shit with it.
A glimpse of sunlight, forcing itself past the mountain border's blinded Izaya for a second as he squinted into the light.
The sun was up, now fully and starting to retake its position in the center of the sky.
"Is Crysteria affecting the time of day too?" he asked and Shizuo blinked.
"How did you know?"
A funny question considering their surroundings.
"Even I noticed that the night seems to pass faster since we got here," Izaya snorted but understood Shizuo's surprise.
To him the change of day and nighttime seemed to be a highly flexible act with little to no fixed schedules.
"It's the crab," Shizuo answered and pointed towards the ever so steadily distancing
mountain.
And somehow Izaya suddenly understood just how powerful this guardian was.
Power, no matter of which sort, seemed awfully intangible to him. Which made sense, since he owned none of his own kind.
But looking at the sky, at Shizuo at what he had done so far, the amount of power he had shown and the overflow of which was now causing even time to move he suddenly felt as though he was able to understand the vastness of that power.
And suddenly he remembered what Shizuo had said.
About his own strength. About the way he was unable to control it at times.
The crab couldn't control its power at all. It sept off it like superfluous fur off a cat. And Shizuo. He couldn't control it at times either.
That fact suddenly seemed much more real and insurmountable.
Izaya couldn't help but suddenly feel pretty stupid for suggesting Shizuo should just keep that urge down with willpower.
He probably really had no choice in the matter.
… which made sense considering had already fucked up once in the lifetime that he remembered.
"The demon you hurt by accident," he spoke a lot quicker than his mind was able to second guess the question as he looked at Shizuo. "Is it still alive?"
It was a question he shouldn't have asked. That much was clear the second it dropped from his lips.
The fluffy creatures circling Izaya were slowly starting to trust the demon again as he hadn't moved in any menacing way.
Walking over one of them nudged Shizuo's thigh and the demon sighed with a soft nod.
So it was alive.
"Why are you asking?" Shizuo mumbled and despite the curiosity in his eyes Izaya somehow felt like Shizuo didn't even really want to know.
"You look like you are beating yourself up over what you did," he deduced with ease and a bitter smile crept onto Shizuo's expression.
"Of course I do."
Tilting his head, Izaya looked at the sky. This conversation wasn't supposed to make the demon feel even worse for what he had done. The opposite.
"Does that demon resent you?" Izaya asked, and just talking about the topic seemed to be a unique form of torture for the demon.
"I don't know," Shizuo sighed, but Izaya wasn't about to start an uncomfortable topic and then give up midway.
"You don't know?" he repeated, asking for more information and the demon threw him a weak glance.
"I didn't exactly stay to unsettle her further."
Her, huh?
So he didn't just almost kill another demon by accident, but it was a woman on top.
And yet- closing his eyes for a moment Izaya nodded to himself as if he had found the perfect solution.
"You should seek her out."
to be continued~
A wild statement xD Now how is our demon going to react to that? hehe C: xD See you next friday when we find out hahaha